Nevada keeps on fighting

Deborah Achtenberg of University of Nevada at Reno provides an update: Tomorrow, March 21, 2011, sudents from all branches of Nevada's higher education system will attend a rally at the state legislature in Carson City.  With numerous buses coming from all over the state, two thousand are predicted to attend.  Faculty, community groups, non-profits and unions will attend as well.

Students will rally, testify, attend sessions, and then rally again.  Two thousand students will make a strong impression in the halls and hearing rooms. The hope is that increasing public demands for revenue enhancement will have an impact on legislators.  Nevada is under-taxed, and a recent survey shows that the majority of Nevadans actually support increasing taxes at this time. Governor Brian Sandoval, on the contrary, has stood firm in his anti-tax stance. Widely perceived to be playing to a national audience, his strategy could backfire if there are strong enough demands for revenue enhancement.  At this point, however, he is enforcing party discipline on Republicans who have expressed pro-tax sentiments. Assembly Republicans are holding extension of $700 million in taxes set to expire in July hostage to seven demands, including anti-union and conservative education demands.  However, some conservative groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce actually support consideration of some taxation to fund state needs. Complicating issues is the fact that mining exploits Nevada through tax loopholes and that Nevada is one of only a few states lacking a corporate profits tax. At the state's two universities, initial proposals for cuts have been made, with French and Theater/Dance proposed to be cut at UNR (Reno) and Philosophy, Women's Studies, the Women's Research Center, Social Work and some other programs proposed to be cut at UNLV (Las Vegas).  The lists are misleading, however, because numerous other programs are slated for reductions. On a personal note, in our building, Cain Hall at UNR, our department, Philosophy, is currently ok, but upstairs the German program was eliminated last year and the French program is proposed this year for elimination (though, with curricular review, there is some hope for arguments on behalf of French), the advisor down the hall will be reduced to half-time, and our janitor will be let go (janitors are now in teams and subjected to a speedup; gradually, janitorial services are being outsourced to companies that provide lower pay).  We are hopeful that we will be considered core and, therefore, will be retained--and are pursuing an active program of lectures, new program development and the usual teaching and research--but we feel keenly the situation of others. Some links of interest:   "Forget Audits:  Mining Exploits Nevada Through Tax Loopholes" by Bob Fulkerson, state director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/forget-audits-mining-exploits-nevada-through-tax-loopholes-118321069.html "A Compromise on the Budget?  Maybe, Maybe Not," Ray Hagar, Reno Gazette-Journal http://www.rgj.com/article/20110320/NEWS11/103200363/A-compromise-budget-Maybe-maybe-not?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE "Horsford, Leslie:  Welfare Budget Unacceptable," Geoff Dornan, Nevada Appeal (Carson City) http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20110319/NEWS/110319488/1070&ParentProfile=1058